Baby left in car, Morro Bay man arrested

October 14, 2016

Stephen Miller

A Morro Bay man is in jail after his 5-month-old baby was found locked in a car parked in the Wells Fargo Bank parking lot in San Luis Obispo on Thursday afternoon. Stephen Miller of Morro Bay said he had forgotten the infant was in the back seat of his car.

Shortly after 2 p.m., a concerned citizen called 911 to say they spotting the infant locked in the car. Police arrived to find the two front windows open about one and a half inches each, the doors locked and an infant buckled into an infant carrier in the back seat.

Miller, 42, returned about 30 minutes after he parked in the lot and told police he had forgotten the child was in the back seat.

Officers arrested Miller on a felony charge of willful cruelty to a child and booked him into the San Luis Obispo County Jail with his bail set at $100,000, according to the sheriff’s department website.

21 Comments

I’m 57 While my children were growing up until they were in junior high ANY TIME we were not at home, they were within arms reach PERIOD! No “just gonna run in” B.S. they were part of me. I was their protector and hero and all they had against the elements, danger and the world. Before I had children I had fallen in love with someone. Once I had children I discovered what unconditional love meant and everything I ever needed was in them.
I can’t believe that anyone could leave a child vulnerable to everything you could list. What if the concerned citizen wasn’t honorable?

In America’s #1 Favorite Family movie: Home Alone, Kevin Mcallister is “left” by his parents accidentally, not for 30 minutes with the windows down, but for what appears to be at least a week.

Kevin’s parent’s only realize they have left Kevin at home after getting on an AIRPLANE!! I mean, this guy is just walking to the bank, and he’s going to be back in a few minutes! No biggie!

The Mcallister’s were literally on an airplane before realizing they had accidently left their child back in Chicago.

Did the Mcallister’s get Kevin taken away by Child Protection Services at the end of the movie? Obviously not, because the created the wildly popular Home Alone 2 sequel.

They made Home Alone 2, and essentially the same thing happened in that movie, and what was the result after that? Not the kid getting taken away, even though there was a past history of child endangerment. This is basically the same thing, only shorter period of time, no airplane, and even less “action” between the time the child was left and the time the child was found safely.

Let me put it his way… That was a freaking movie!!! Dont use Hollywood to support your arguement about how “we’ve all done it”. I’ve never had to fight an alian lifeform or deal with a 10.0 earthquake that destroys California but at least there is a movie about it just in case???

So, he left a baby in a car for a half hour? With the windows down 1.5 inches?

BIG DEAL!

We’ve all done it more than a few times.. Heck. 99% of the time the windows are all the way up.. You know you’ve done it. We usually get away with it too and everything’s fine. It’s that one time nosy Nancy is walking by when she’s got to report you to the police.. wah! wah!

Sometimes people leave the baby on top of the car accidentally.. I mean, is this any worse than that? Are those people in trouble too? The window was down an Inch and a Half! He was gone 30 minutes! It’s probably cool in there!

I’ve actually been in the habit of leaving my kids in the car so often I just leave 3 bottles of water in the glove box, and a window-busting tool in plain site in the glove-box in case things get out of control the two year old appears to understand the tool and its purpose.

Problem solved.

Usually when I accidentally leave my kid(s) in the car with the windows up I leave a bowl of water as well, in case panic/hallucination sets in they just go for the water. I have found this to virtually solve the heat issues associated with such an accident.